Make It By Faith

Good morning, everybody, and again, we want to thank you for joining us this morning. We want to welcome those that are joining from one of our campuses here in Austin, or maybe one of the 13 locations in those correctional facilities. It's an honor to be with you today, Italy, Mozambique, shout out to you guys, Celebration Church. Can we just welcome everyone that is joining online today? Good to see you guys. I had one of those weeks. I walked out Friday morning to retrieve the trash cans, took out the trash on Thursday. That is my job. If I want to eat, if I want to stay in the house with this woman, Lori Champion, I have to take care of the trash. How many relate to already the story? As I return or go to the street to return the trash cans, Friday morning, I discovered they've been stolen. How many know we live in a bad world when the trash cans are being stolen? The two trash cans that I put out were gone. Not just the cans, but the trash. I said, Lori, somebody has stolen our trash cans. She says, let me call and make sure. Little did we know that when we had to change a credit card because of fraud, that our automatic payment wasn't going to the trash company. Who's had one of those kind of situations? One of the things I love is that our emails are celebration.church. So when they see my name, Joe Champion, celebration.church, you're one of those preachers that don't pay the bill. I said, what do I need to do to get my trash back? I said, you guys just need to take the cans. You took the trash, which frankly, thank you. I appreciate that.

You could have dumped it. She says, you'll get new cans on Friday. I'm looking forward to having new cans in Jesus' name. How many are off the grid for that reason? You are off the grid. And whatever they get from you, it's by check. I took a consumer class in high school, consumer math, which basically taught you how to write a check. Who remembers consumer math? I failed that class. And all that to say, maybe you've had one of those weeks where it was so bad they even stole your trash. I want to get into the word. Somehow I'm going to segue into the word, which certainly helps us remove the trash out of our lives. We're in the gospel of Mark. If you have your Bibles, we'll get there in just a moment to the book of Mark, chapter four, in just a moment. Father, would you let your word wash us, cleanse us? Would you let your word, in fact, Lord, we let even right now that word reside in our heart. You said, let the word of God richly dwell within you. Lord, I don't want just a topical application. Lord, I want you to go deep in my heart, do what you need to do to conform me to your image and to your likeness. Lord, I give you permission, whatever it takes, make me what you want me to be. And all the God's people said, amen. We are in the gospel of Mark all summer long. And for those that are new, we want to just help you. And we always like to just bring another angle, another truth concerning the gospel of Mark.

It was the earliest of the gospels. Many believe that Matthew and Luke were heavily influenced by the gospel of Mark. John Mark wrote the book. John Mark probably never met Jesus, or if he did, we don't have a record of that. So much of what he wrote was probably by the influence of Peter. He was like Peter's scribe. So as you're reading the gospel of Mark, realize this happened some 65 years later. The book was written 65 years after the death of Christ. And if there are two key words, two key thoughts that I want to give you, even as we just begin today when it concerns the gospel of Mark, these two words are easy to remember because they rhyme, grace and pace. Grace and pace. John Mark knew, first of all, that whatever he could do for God was because of grace. John Mark had great failure in his life. The Bible says that he deserted Barnabas and Paul. The Bible says that in the middle of the night, he just took off in the book of Acts chapter 13. they were journeying and preaching the gospel, John did not make the wake-up call. And as we know that he in one way just, frankly, just disappeared, just walked off, wasn't to be found anywhere. It's much like what you find in the book of Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter four and verse one. The Bible talks about the spirit explicitly says that in the latter days, people are just gonna fall away. People are just gonna fall away from the faith. They're just gonna fall out. They're just gonna drift. They're gonna just, of course, disappear.

That word there means to desert. He literally just, he went AWOL. The Bible talks about this, not just in relationship to John Mark, but it's talking about in relationship in the last days. That people who once had faith are just gonna fall away. Now notice why did they fall away? Paying attention to deceitful spirit. Paying attention. In other words, what you watch, what you look at, what you listen to can cause us, as we pay attention to these deceitful lies and truths or deceitful gossips, if you will. The Bible talks about listening to doctrines of demons causes people to just begin, if they will, to disappear. And they don't finish what was started in their life. This is what happened to John Mark. And this is why John Mark was so grateful. I think John Mark knew that he was completely in the grace of God. He was being used by God to even write this book because of grace. How many are thankful that grace gives you the right and the ability to change? Maybe you've come here today and you're in a wrong way. You're in a wrong place. You are frankly not where you're supposed to be. And maybe even in your own faith, it's been hard for you. It's been difficult for you. Your trash is being stolen this week.

And I want to encourage you that God wants you to pay attention, not to deceitful spirits, but to his grace, to the message of what Christ came to do. The second word, when we look at the gospel of Mark and the second, if you will, when you consider the way Mark was written, it's the second word, pace, pace. So when we look at the gospel of Mark, you see words like this, immediately, straight way, for, with. It's like there's no time with John Mark. I think people who have experienced the grace of God, people who have experienced the grace of God that has brought change in their life. In other words, once blind, but now see. Once not able to walk, now walking and leaping and praising God. There's something that I believe as a result of grace, as a result of God's kindness and goodness and mercy, that causes you to say, I don't have time to be wrong anymore. I don't have time to just waste or to squander. And so 13 chapters, I think it's related to John Mark's ability to remember the grace of God. Therefore, he wants his pace to be strong. 13 chapters begin with the word and, and, and. I think Mark is showing us that people who've experienced the grace of God, the mercy of God, they don't have time, but to do the work of God. Bible talks about this at the very end of the book of Mark.

It says in chapter 16 and verse 20, and the disciples, wherever they went, they were preaching the gospel. Paul, the apostle says it as well. He says, I am the least of all the apostles. First Corinthians 15. I'm not fit to be even called an apostle. I was once a persecutor of the church of God. That's how wrong I was. That's how deceived I was. That's how much I was paying attention to doctrines of demons. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace towards me did not prove vain. In fact, it caused me to labor even more than all the rest. Yet it wasn't me, but it was the grace of God within me. That's why I think Ephesians tells us, Ephesians chapter five, be careful how you walk, not as an unwise man or woman or unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time. Buying time, redeeming time, because the days are evil. I love what Paul says here. I am what I am because of the grace of God. But what I was not going to allow was that grace to lie in my heart in vain. I'm going to do something with it. Titus says it like this, the grace of God, the mercy of God, teaches us,

instructs us, to not just waste our lives, not to just live in sinful lifestyle, but to press on. Jesus also said it as it related to His relationship to the Father. We must, John 9, 4, we must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day. Night is coming when there will be no more need for work. How many believe that today, you are alive for this reason, there's work to be done. And that God has spared you, God has kept you. God has been good to you. God has been merciful to you. God has given you by His patience the ability to start seeing the way that you should be seeing. You start living the way that you're supposed to be living. And what Paul says is, I don't want to take this grace, I don't want to just say I'm under the grace of God, the mercy of God, the patience or the compassion of God. Or if you will, I didn't experience God's great divine eraser over my life, so that I would go back and do the same things that I used to do. I want to live a life like Jesus that is productive. Again another angle of this idea of pace. The Bible says they were dragging these disciples like Jason

and some of the brethren in Acts chapter 17 because they were preaching the gospel. And they said these kind of things. These men are here and they are upsetting the world. In other words, one translation, I love the King James, it says they're turning the world, what? Upside down. I don't even believe that that is part of what we are here to do. And you may say, Pastor Joe, but no, are we supposed to upset the world or turn the world upside down? And the world has fallen. Understand get the big picture that this world became a different world than the world that God created. And that's why God comes in Christ. That's why Christ entered into this world. That's why he came into your heart. And of course, all of that started when Christ came, not just in the womb of Mary, but eventually would have to make his way to Jerusalem, setting his face like Flint for that whole operation. His whole mission would be centered in the cross.

And that there would come a great divide, a great separation between life and death. There would come a great separation between this world and the kingdom of God. And that cross was the separating, the dividing line, the demarcation that brought in what God wanted to do in this world. And so as we begin to just see and just look at how the gospel of Mark is written, as it related to this whole idea of Mark, he's writing primarily to Romans. So when you know Mark's background, Mark that Greek word or his Greek name, the origin of his name is found in Greece. Therefore he's writing a lot to those that are lost, the Gentiles. And he's writing in a very soldier-like way. It's sharp, it's exact, it's crisp. That's why you have all of these movements, that are speaking about straightway and immediately and no time to waste. Now we come to what is Mark chapter four, as we are studying this particular portion of scripture today. The Bible says, on that day. Again, you can hear it. It's like on that day, Jesus, who had just finished preaching and teaching and giving them parables,

when the evening came, he said to them, it is time to go to the other side. And if I were to just stop for a moment, I want you to look at those words right there. Jesus says, let's go over to the other side. There are times when God says to you, it's time for you to move. I'm not talking movement as in location. This is certainly not a message for you to say, I was praying about leaving your church, Pastor Joe, this is confirmation. In fact, I've had people in this particular portion of scripture take that to mean, it's time for them to move from their wife or to move from their job or to just move. I'm not talking location. I'm not talking about geographical and you're gonna see here in a moment, Jesus is not either. But he is speaking to them in the context of crowds and people and the way that life has been going. And of course, a lot of it's going well, but then there's also great persecution of following Jesus. But it's, again, the context of when the evening came. In other words, when you start to stop and just to think about in the evening, in that moment. And of course, how many find yourself a little bit more tired in the evening?

What is the evening message in the Bible? What does it speak about? What does Scripture give us when it indicates the night time, or the evening, or the end of the day? I really want us to just focus in for just a moment on this verse 35, when it was now a time when they were tired. God says, this is not a time to stop. It's not if you're going to get tired. It's not if you're going to have those evenings, or those thoughts that come in the evening of your life, which means maybe it's time to quit. Or maybe it's time to give up. Or maybe because I'm worn out, God's finished with me. That's when God says, you're not going to stop now. You're going to another side. It's important for you to understand something. We rest in heaven. My pastor used to speak to me on this particular angle, and truly we believe in Sabbath, and truly we believe in rest, and we truly believe that it is one of the principles and the commands of God. But when you come to the Old Testament, or the New Testament, our rest is in Jesus. Paul the Apostle says, rest is not in a day, it's in a person. When people say, Pastor Joe, I need my Sabbath rest. Jesus being your rest every day is your rest. When you walk with Christ, you are in rest. How many know, days don't necessarily give you rest? It's not a calendar. It's not something that you can find in this time. It's something that is timeless. To be truly at peace or at rest is to be in Christ. And so when he would say to me, Joe, we work on earth, we rest in heaven.

But the rest being, of course, ultimately, we've got work to do. And I want to encourage you that maybe you feel like though you have come to an evening time in your life, I don't believe God is wanting you to quit. And let me say it like this, and God is not quitting on you. You see, God is not giving up on that which he has started in your life. It's a part of life. It's true. God ordains mornings, and he ordains evenings. There will be days and seasons when life is like a morning. Life is every day fresh, and new, and clear, and light, and warm, and hopeful. But then there comes evenings. There are evenings in our lives in which we wonder, God, where are you? There are those evenings, if you will, that are more like into days of darkness. It's not clear. It's not always known what is happening next. It could be hard. It could be difficult. But at the evening, with a measure of darkness comes a measure of coldness. I hope I'm speaking to somebody today that might wonder, God, where have you been? I think oftentimes these evenings are likened to what the Bible tells us is a valley. And just because it might be an evening doesn't mean that it's over. And just because you're in a valley doesn't mean that you're supposed to stop. The Bible tells us that we are not to camp in any valley. Look at Psalm 84. It says, passing through the valley of Baca. Passing through the valley. Passing through. Valleys were never intended to be your governor. Valleys were never intended to rule you. They were never intended to dominate you.

You were never, when you find yourself in between peaks in your life. I think with age, it's just going to come, especially with age. But it happens in all of our lives where life could be at some moments so right and so good and so filled with life, and then you find yourself so wrong and not so good, they've stolen your trash cans. We wonder, God, where did you go? And oftentimes in these valleys, we begin to question ourselves. We begin to question not just ourselves, but we begin to question even who God is. That's the context of Jesus saying, this is not a valley that you're staying in. I do believe that the Lord was not teaching them how to handle strife. storms, and we'll talk about that in a moment. He was teaching them to go to another level of faith. He was teaching them to dig deeper. He was teaching them to stretch, to grow. Speaking to one of our team members this morning, Hayden, whose father was diagnosed with a brain tumor, who since Easter has not been able to get out of bed. And as his father is at home with his mother in the Dallas area, and he's here this morning, and as he travels frequently to be with his dad, who's bedridden, I asked him this morning, I said, Hayden, what are you learning? He says, I'm learning that God stretches our faith. I pray that this morning, he stretches your faith. He takes you to another level of faith, another side of his glory, another side of what it means to trust. God is never going to allow you to just live in a valley. Christ is always wanting us to teach, and that's why he is saying it's time to move.

When he is saying to these disciples in verse 35, he is saying it is time for you to grow. It is time for you to advance. It is time for you to change. It's interesting, when you look at the whole context of chapter four, he's been giving them teachings and sermons and illustrations and parabolic teachings. Look at it, it's very clear. You would have thought that after all this parable, and after all these sermons, and after all of these lessons that he just gave them, he would have thought, this is what you need. What you need is an experience. You don't need another sermon. Sermons do not prepare you. Though we understand the power of the word, we understand the power of that word coming to us and in us, his word is spirit through sermons, no question. But how many know you really don't learn until you experience? How many have ever not received the job because you didn't have what? Experience. You had the degree. You have the letters behind that degree. You have that which gave you the official document that you are now a graduate of whatever that may be, but then that company says, yeah, but you don't. You just don't have experience. The reality is, is that God is a God of experience.

God is a God who will put you in places that are going to cause you to question like the disciples. You don't care about us. You don't care about me. You don't love me or you're done with me. You brought me here to die. That's exactly what is about to happen. It's Christ wanting to move us deeper and closer to himself to see another side of his grace, to see another side of his glory, to see another side of his life, to see another side of his fathering and mentoring and developing us. Many of us are just satisfied and I think we all come to this place where like into my overused illustration of putting everything on automatic payment, we don't have to think. We don't have to think. And I think when we often get saved, and let me ask you a question. Who knows that you're saved? Your sins are forgiven. You've asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Can I just see how many hands are there today? I was saved and you can probably document when that happened but what happens to a lot of believers, what happens to a lot of God's children is that because they have become saved, they have stopped thinking

and they've stopped laboring. They've stopped working. Or if you will, they've stopped growing. And that's the worst thing that can happen. That's one of the things that I really do believe that he's capturing in Timothy where he says in the last days, people are gonna depart from the faith paying attention. I think it's not just paying attention, it's not paying attention. That can cause us to miss what God wants to do in our lives. When Mark is writing, I believe Mark is like saying, let's get everything out of our lives for the glory of God. I want everything. that God has put in me to come out to bring an expression of His nature in the world today. And when you and I see these stories, in fact, we're going to see and go a little bit deeper today, the Bible talks about this idea that God is saying it is time for us to go. In fact, let's just go a little bit deeper. Let's read in verse 36, Jesus, as on that day, said to him, and them, let us go. He doesn't say, you go. He says, we're going together. I'm not leaving you. And it says, leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat,

just as he was, and there arose a fierce gale of wind. And the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. And Jesus thought this was a perfect time to teach what everyone needs to be taught in their moment of storms. Where did you go? Because some storms are truly caused by our stupidity, but some storms are caused by God's sovereignty. He knew what they were about to encounter. And Jesus, knowing by His sovereignty that they were going to learn more about Him, is at peace, and He's at rest, and He's going to grab a nap in the king's suite of this particular boat. The Bible says He has a cushion. That's a king-sized bed in the Greek. That's what it literally means. And there's Jesus in the midst of what is a storm that is overtaking the boat. Jesus is in the boat, sound asleep in the stern, and I love how it causes and even captures this particular angle on a cushion. Like it wasn't enough to just sleep on a piece of wood. It's giving another angle, like, how dare God? How dare Him? While winds and waves are crashing, I'm glad to know He's on a cushion.

And they come to Him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? You're absolutely ignorant of the severity of the situation. They didn't just say, do you not care that we're in a storm? Do you not care that we're in trouble? Do you not care that we're going through these particular issues? How many know we as human beings love to take it to the maximum capacity? We're dying. It's over. It's over. We're finished. We're done. We'll never see another day. And I love it. And He got up and He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, hush be still. The Greek literally means at the exact precise time the winds and the waves ceased. It wasn't like He spoke to the winds and then 25 minutes later the waves stopped. They saw something that was yes, supernatural but even way more than that to watch this supremacy of God inject into the winds and the waves something that they were to cry out and say, who then is this that even the winds

and the sea at the same time obey Him? And as He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, hush be still the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. What I wanna give you a few thoughts today. Number one, we're gonna all have our storm. You will have a storm. And that storm is not because you are in sin. It's not because you are wrong. It's not because you've made a wrong decision. It's back oftentimes it's because you're trying to do and want the will of God. And you will find yourself in storm. Jesus said, you're gonna find yourself like the world and the world does experience as it says and the rains and the floods come, it happens and it's not unique to just certain people. Can I just encourage you that whatever storm there may be going on right now, it's not an indication that you've missed God. Number two, we will all have our meltdowns. I think all of us have moments where we freak out. And that's for this generation. We will all freak or freak out. We will all come to a place where we just have decided that it's over the winds and the waves are breaking over. They're taking over. This is something that we wonder why this is happening to us. And then of course, the third point here is that we. will all make it by faith. And I want to speak to you today because you will make it, comma,

by faith. You can make it and it will only be by faith. It's faith because Jesus spoke to them and he said, where is your faith? Why are you afraid? This whole point, this whole issue, this whole teaching was so that they would be brought to a new level of faith. The other side, of course, you can say geographically, and Jesus did say, did I not tell you we're going to the other side? Did I not tell you that we have a mission? Did I not tell you that there is somewhere for us to go? But I think ultimately that place of going is that place of faith. And I want to stretch you today. In fact, I believe that God wants us in this particular portion of scripture to be stretched in our faith. And the problem with faith oftentimes is that God goes silent, asleep in the stern, on a cushion, in the middle of a storm. And we wonder, and you're now going to be silent. See, I love when God speaks. And how many believe that God does speak? We're 25 years into a word, it is Austin, 25 years ago. Twenty-five years ago, Lori and I were directed to this city, literally in prayer, a season of prayer, years of prayer. Lord, what city would you have us to go to and we'll spend the rest of our life there. And that phrase and that word, it wasn't from the scripture, it was in our spirit. Simultaneously, though we were in different places in that particular morning of March of 2000, the word is, it is Austin. And we would of course verify it by the counselors and wisdom and pastors and prayer and fasting and examination. But it came. But I often like to say it like this, I haven't heard from him since. He gave me enough word to run for the rest of my life on it. Can you handle the sovereignty of silence? You see, what they did not think was that God speaks actually through silence. And He's just as sovereign when you're not hearing Him. He's just as real when you're not hearing. In fact, He's more real when He's silent. That's faith. When you don't see Him, and you don't hear Him, and you don't feel Him. The reality is, is this is what happened in 1 Kings chapter 19. The Lord wasn't in the earthquake and He wasn't in the fire, He was in the still small voice. See, you have to trust Him. And let me just give it to you like this, in and by faith, Moses left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King, but he endured as seeing Him who is unseen. He endured, seeing though He wasn't seen. He continued. And in His continuing, He didn't continue because He heard, He continued because He knew God was faithful. As we close and the worship team can come, can I just tell you, have faith in His faithfulness. You will live to see the other side of your life, another

day, another level. You will see another season. God is speaking to you today, it's not time for you to stay on this side. He's got another side for you. And though you have not seen Him, 1 Peter tells us in chapter 1 verses 8 and 9, though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him. You rejoice in Him with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Let me just say it like this, though maybe you haven't seen Him in a while, you love Him. And though you haven't heard from Him in a while, you trust Him. Put your faith in His faithfulness. I also write, faith in His power and authority. He's sovereign. He's in control. He is not in a place of questioning. He's a place of authority. And you have to understand, this is why God wants us to even find ourselves in experiences. That would cause us to say He truly is God. I had put my faith in what I was seeing, now I'm going to trust in the God who I don't see. He's faithful, and He is as in control as He ever was. Number three, faith in Him to finish what He has started. He's faithful to finish. There's days in all of our lives when we wonder, Lord, are you finished? Are you done with me? Have I run my race? And that may be, and there are those moments, and there are those times. But I will just say, as long as you have breath, I will praise the Lord. As long as I have breath, I will do the work that God has called me to do. And the plan that God had, Psalms, in fact, the book of Job tells us as well, more pointedly, the plan of God will not be thwarted. The plan of God is not changing. Man can't stop it. God is faithful. What He has started, He will finish. And faith in His ways.

One of His ways is that you've got to understand, as you're in these moments, be careful what you say to God. Be careful what you speak. Be careful how you respond. As the Bible tells us, these disciples begin to accuse God. They question God. They attack God. Psalm 50 and verse 19 and 21 says, you let your mouth loose and evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and you speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have kept silence. You thought that I was just like you. I'm going to reprove you and state the case in order before your eye. How many know one of His ways to life is what comes out of our mouth? He says, you've been speaking evil, and you've been speaking deceit, and you've been attacking people. And you say to people, why haven't you helped me? And you've been saying things that you should not be saying. And in fact, he says, your thought process, you think, is my thought process. I love what great author says, Arthur Pink. Your thoughts of God are too human. And I think that's what we do. Though God became human, we have so humanized God that we have left His sovereignty. And then lastly, faith in His grace and love. And I love this, as he goes, I will correct you, I will approve you. What's coming out of your mouth should not be spoken. Psalm 50, then he goes in verse 22 and 23, now consider this, you who have forgotten God, or I will tear you in pieces.

How many know forgetting God may cost us? And there will be none to deliver, but he who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me. And to him who orders his way aright, I will show the salvation. He who offers thanksgiving in a storm will see the salvation. Are you in a storm today? It's not a time to speak evil. It's not a time to accuse God. It's not a time to speak evil of people. It's a time for you to say, Lord, grow me, make me what you want me to be. With every head bowed and every eye closed this morning. How many would say, I thought the Lord was going to take me somewhere that was not going to be a storm, I thought it was going to be a paradise. I thought this move, I thought my job, I thought my life, I thought my marriage, I thought all that I had in my mind was going to be paradise. And instead of it being a cruise, it had turned into Gilligan's Island. Shipwrecked. And Lord, I want my mouth to be filled with praise. Lord, I hear you. You want to take me deeper. How many are saying to the Lord, I hear you, Lord. You're taking me deeper. Let me just see by the uplifting of hand today. He wants you to fall in love with him. He wants you to fall in love with his faithfulness. He wants you to fall in love with his sovereignty, his power, his authority. He wants you to fall in love with his will. He wants you to fall in love with trust in him. He's here. The same God who said to you, it's time to go, time to move, time to grow.

It's the same God that says it's time for you to be grateful. Maybe you're here today and you have forgotten God, maybe you're here today and you have walked away from God, you paid attention to deceiving things, deceiving people, and deceiving spirits, and deceiving doctrines, and the lies. God is not faithful. The same Christ that was raised from the dead to forgive you, to cleanse you, and to save you, is the God that is here today, who would say, Lord, I'm returning to you, I trust you with all my heart. Let me see your hand all over this place. He's faithful. Can we say this out loud, Lord Jesus, I trust you. Every season, when it is morning, I trust you, and when it is evening, I trust you. You're always speaking, you're always working. Today I trust you as my Lord, my Savior in the storm. Not my will, but your will be done. You will deliver me, Lord, safely to your kingdom, to your call. Jesus, you have it all, all of God's peace. We just thank him for his kindness and his goodness and his mercy.